This kitchen transformation is by far the most dramatic to date. Never before have we had to gut the entire kitchen including all of the cabinets. Usually to keep our costs down we save the cabinets and refinish them, however, this kitchen had three different kinds of cabinets–all different styles. Removing all the cabinets makes for a humongous demo pile in the living room!
Related: Kitchen Turns Catastrophic: Planning for Demo Day #1
Never Ending Demo
Related #2: Demo Day #1: Kitchen Destroyed
The kitchen demo took a HUGE chunk of dumpster space. We threw out everything….including the kitchen sink!! HA!
We will admit—this demo was huge. Thanks to our parents and friends who helped create this huge pile of rubble! It is a bit intimidating standing in a completely empty space, but also exhilarating to think about what it could be!
I can see in my head what I want it to look like, but now to break down all the steps and parts to get there!!
Designing Your Kitchen
Related: Design your dream kitchen!
Having never designed a kitchen before from scratch—we have learned A TON! I like to think I am fairly ‘techy’ so being able to design my huge kitchen transformation online (in my minimal spare time) is ideal to say the least. It is honestly so easy to do–just click my related link above to learn how!
The best part of designing the kitchen is selecting all the materials. This can be daunting as there are SO many options and it can be difficult to envision what it will actually look like from little sample squares. I like to keep my kitchens classic. I have never done crazy colors or trendy fads. Maybe that is because I am in the business of flipping so my houses need to appeal to all buyers. If you plan to stay in your home for a long time, feel free to experiment with different colors. I would still recommend classic cabinets and countertops as those are costly to change out every couple of years as styles change. It is MUCH easier to repaint or even swap out backsplash to change the look of your space.
Our Kitchen Transformation
Related: Installing Kitchen Cabinets
So how did our kitchen come together?? Slowly. LOL. Kitchens take a significant amount of work. With all the cabinets assembled, my ‘little brother’ (who stands 6’8) and my dad helped hang them all. Planning and measuring is SUPER important…..as is a ledger board! Way too many people try to hang cabinets without a ledger board!
You might think that installing cabinets doesn’t take that long…..WRONG!! Measuring from an unlevel ceiling down, screwing in the ledger board, ensuring the cabinet is level, hoping to hit a stud with the screw, clamping them together, leveling out base cabinets….it all takes time!
Seeing cabinets going up is extremely exciting as the space comes together. It is starting to look like a kitchen! Everything is falling into place. Cabinets went in nicely, followed by the farmhouse sink, counters and cabinet hardware. WOOT!
Putting up our glass subway tile took a couple evenings. Kitchens have lots of outlets to cut around and we had a fair amount of length as well. Tim gets better and faster at tiling with each project! You would think we would own a tile saw by now, but we continue to borrow my brother’s. Since we both renovate homes, we are usually swapping tools at various times. Step by step on how to install your own subway tile will be in a post to come! 🙂
Installing cabinet knobs and drawer pulls was another project that I did with my dad. The secret to getting all of the knobs the same is to build your own template. I simply used the corner of a cardboard box flap to create mine. You need to have a square corner and measure in from each side, mark your spot, and drill your hole. Drawer pull templates are a little trickier because there are usually two screws so you need the correct distance between each hole while centering it on the drawer. This template definitely takes more measuring and brain power!
Kitchen Transformation Reveal!
So did all of our hard work pay off?? We put so much time and energy into this kitchen alone! family and friends helped us tear it apart and family helped us put it back together. I am pretty proud of how this kitchen turned out being it was our very first kitchen from scratch! Oh and P.S….that fridge will NEVER come out!!
